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Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George
Book Description The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands when someone drives and eighteen-inch dirk through her neck. Called upon to investigate the case in a country where they have virtually no authority, aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, grapple for both a motive and a murderer. Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama, for the list of suspects soon includes Britain's foremost actress, its most successful theatrical producer, and the woman Lynley loves. He and Havers must tread carefully through the complicated terrain of human relationships, while they work to solve a case rooted in the darkest corners of the past and the unexplored regions of the human heart. Reader Reviews 4 of 6 people found the following review helpful: The mysteries of the human heart, June 3, 2002 Reviewer: Martha E. Nelson from Watertown, Wisconsin This novel is an interesting mixture of a big-country-house mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie and a much deeper study of the way that humans can fundamentally hurt and deceive themselves. I really loved A Suitable Vengeance, the first novel in this series. This one took me a little longer to get into, but I found it equally interesting and compelling, once it got started. Thomas Lynley has to confront his feelings for Lady Helen Clyde, whose lover may (or may not) be implicated in a murder. Lynley is, at first, remarkably blind to his own feelings, and then lets jealously completely overtake himself and his judgement. He also is blind to the ways that Scotland Yard CID is manipulating him, taking advantage of his class assumptions and loyalties. Barabara Havers, with her own set of class assumptions and much more stunted interpersonal relations, has to confront her loyalties to Lynley and to her career, and is the character who probably grows the most in this book. There are quite a few "red herrings" here, from a traditional mystery perspective. I am usually les interested in figuring out mystery stories than I am in the character development along the way, but I will say that I figured out the villain in this one!
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